NPR Blogs

Obama Secures Funding To Help Connect Students To Internet

By Eyder Peralta

Published February 4, 2014 at 5:24 PM EST

President Obama records students on a classroom iPad while visiting a seventh grade classroom before speaking about goals of connecting students to next generation broadband and wireless technology within five years on Tuesday, at Buck Lodge Middle School in Adelphi, Md.

President Obama on Tuesday announced that technology companies had pledged $750 million in equipment and services that would help connect students to the Internet.

USA Today reports:

"Money from Apple, Microsoft, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and other companies, combined with $2 billion from the Federal Communications Commission, will help connect up to 15,000 schools and 20 million students.

"These businesses 'want educated customers,' Obama told students and faculty at a Maryland high school that provides students with iPads. 'They want customers who are able to get good jobs, who are going to be using these tools in the future.'"

NBC News reports that during a appearance at a high school in suburban Washington, Obama said that wireless Internet access should be as common in schools as it is in coffee shops.

The grants are part of what the administration calls "ConnectEd," an initiative that seeks to connect almost all American students to high speed Internet within five years.